Sneak Peek: Tarte Magic Star Collector's Set Photos & Swatches

Tarte Magic Star Holiday 2017 Collector’s Set ($49.00 for 1.23 oz.) is a new, limited edition holiday palette that includes four cheek colors, two lip colors, eyeliner, mascara, and 25 eyeshadows.
First Impressions
I saw little that was promising in the set as several of the mattes had dry, stiff consistencies that required product to be scraped off to transfer any coverage to my arm to show a swatch. Other mattes were sheer, not that buildable, and took extra effort to blend out. The shimmers were decent but some were dry to the touch and often applied unevenly, lifted as I blended them, or otherwise lost intensity on the lid. They were all prone to fading faster than the average eyeshadow from the few I wore for testing longevity. There’s a good chance this palette gets pushed to the bottom of my priority list, but I’ve been keeping up fairly well with the holiday releases so there may still be a full, in-depth review in the future.
Tarte Magic Star Collector's Set

Tarte Magic Star Holiday 2017 Collector's Set

Tarte Magic Star Holiday 2017 Collector's Set

Tarte Magic Star Holiday 2017 Collector's Set

Tarte Magic Star Holiday 2017 Collector's Set

Tarte Magic Star Holiday 2017 Collector's Set

Tarte Magic Star Holiday 2017 Collector's Set

Tarte Magic Star Holiday 2017 Collector's Set

Tarte Magic Star Holiday 2017 Collector's Set

Tarte Magic Star Holiday 2017 Collector's Set

Tarte Magic Star Holiday 2017 Collector's Set

Tarte Magic Star Holiday 2017 Collector's Set

Tarte Magic Star Holiday 2017 Collector's Set

Tarte Magic Star Holiday 2017 Collector's Set
Unpromising. Hate to see you wasting your valuable time on this one.
Looks terrible. Thank you for the sneak peek and yeah, I wouldn’t waste time on a full review when there’s so much else out there.
Honestly, Christine, you have saved me so much $$$ in the last few months! Thank you.
You would think that a brand, that does pretty much the same kind of shades all the time, would get the formula right by now. Don’t waste your time and effort Christine, your swatches and your first impressions alone tell the sad story.
I definitely agree with what you just said, Genevieve. Christine ought not waste her time on this obviously pitiful palette, the swatches tell the tale.
Agree.
Looks like a dud.
Oh this is gorgeous! It’s a shame the formula might not be great.
Indulgence is so gorgeous though, definitely considering making a bad decision and getting the ABH dupe!
Nope!
…where’s the down vote button? :p
Looks like this could be in the clearance section of generic Kohls items..for 9.99
….where’s the like button
Those look so unpigmented! I predict a C+ overall
I rather expected this to be poor performing and the colors are the same or similar to what Tarte puts out all of the time. I also hate the packaging on these types of palettes because they just don’t lend themselves to travel. Thank you for the sneak peak but definitely agree that you shouldn’t waste your time testing this, unless you run out of things to do and have extra time, LOL !!!
I have a Holiday palette from Tarte a few years ago and am still boggled how the quality from them now is all over the map. Mine are buttery and pigmented. What happened!?
When y’know it’s that most disappointing time of the year; the usual suspects always show up. Tarte being one of the main ones. So, I’m neither hyped nor miffed about that, because that’s just their usual schtick.
I think this review here is good enough, but maybe that’s just me. I’d rather see you spend time on other things or on walking or playing with Mellan.
Not so much! Just skip it. ?
Just going by the theme, I am pretty sure someone didn’t spellcheck. I think they meant desert, like the landscape and not dessert like the cake. Oh well, it does not look so hot to me.
I wonder to what extent these large holiday palettes (not just from Tarte but a few other companies as well) are aimed at people (parents, aunts and uncles, etc.) buying for younger family members or friends who are fairly new to makeup. The pricing and the large volume of product for a good price make them appealing to give as gifts to those who love makeup and many of these people mightn’t be aware about quality issues or be aware of a blog like Temptalia where you can check out stuff like this. So these sell well because they look like they will make an excellent gift for someone on their gift-list. Might explain why companies who can do better and (you would think) should know better keep churning out stuff like this around the holidays.
I knew you wouldn’t like this one! ? I actually was super pleased with it! Yes some shades are duds (like the dark purples) but I looove the face products and shadows that might not swatch that well (like fringe), I absolutely loved on my lids. For this price tag, you’re getting a great amount of products imo. My shadow lasted through a cardio workout and my eyeliner was still in my water line after showering. ? I even have a video applying the products on my instagram.
Just bought it and I really, really liked it a lot!
Great review, as always! If you’re taking suggestions, I would love to hear your thoughts on the melt cosmetics eyeshadow stacks- they’re reasonably pricey so it would be super valuable to hear your thoughts and to see comparison swatches/dupes! <3
Don’t waste your time Christine. This was enough for me to know it’s a pass.
I saw this in Ulta the other day–I was so excited to finally see it and swatch it in person..,man was I disappointed!! I had the same experience as you did Christine, with the colors being too dry to swatch! Not to mention it smelled like chemicals…so I checked the box and yup, this one was made in China. Out of the two holiday palettes from Tarte I definitely prefer the Treasure Box collectors set at Sephora; the shadows were softer and it has the traditional Tarte smell of vanilla.
This seems so pretty…it’s a shame it’s so bad. But since I already have similar colors in the many palettes I own, the fact that this set performs so poorly makes my wallet happy.
I like only two items from this whole set: the Indulgence eye shadow and the Castle lip color. I would get dupes if they are not available as single purchases, the rest does not appeal to me.
welp, doesn’t look great, but I want a dupe for Indulgence anyway. Any recommendations? (I do have Laura Mercier African Violet in a palette, maybe that’s close enough….)
You are saving me SO MUCH money this year. Don’t bother to grade this one, I can tell from the swatches it’s a dud.
This seems like a typical Tarte holiday offering. Meh.
Looks neither bad nor good but I’ll be passing.
Disappointing. I echo the sentiments of using your time elsewhere. Thanks for all you do, Christine!!
Got it and the lip paint doe foot applicator was covered in mold!!! So gross, back it goes 🙁 The shadows were as disappointing as you said too, should’ve just listened from the start